As Midland High senior forward Raul Jaramillo stepped up to take the final penalty shot of Tuesday night’s match, he needed to block out everything except the ball and the Lee goalkeeper in front of him.

“(It’s just) emptiness,” Jaramillo said when asked his feelings in that situation. “I’ve just got to clear my mind and make that goal, that’s it.”

Jaramillo calmly delivered for MHS, scoring the winning goal in the Bulldogs’ 5-4 victory in PKs over archrival Lee at Grande Communications Stadium. The match was tied 2-2 after regulation.

Just before Jaramillo’s match winner, MHS goalkeeper Noah Venegas made a critical save in the lower left corner against Lee’s powerful shooter, Esau Soto.

MHS (5-5-2 overall, 0-0-1-1, 3 points in District 2-6A) earned two points and bounced back from a 5-4 PK home loss to Odessa Permian last Friday in its district opener. Lee, which got a pair of goals from senior midfielder Johnny Thang, settled for a lone point and fell to 9-5-1 overall, 1-0-0-1, 4 points in district play.

Bulldogs head coach J.D. Bales said his players stepped up their game Tuesday, especially in the absence of star forward Brian Natividad, who was sitting out with a red card taken in the team’s previous match.

“It’s the next man up concept,” Bales said. “We had a bunch of guys step in today, really raise their level of play and they performed really well overall. We got up, kind of got flat, got down and the guys never quit battling and pulled out a win. Two points is big.”

Jaramillo said he and his teammates were prepared to earn a positive result Tuesday night. He said their demeanor was evident as soon as they took the field pre-match.

“We went into this game and we had our heads locked in from the very beginning,” Jaramillo said. “We started our warm-ups very well and we kept our composure throughout the game and I was very proud of it.”

Jaramillo opened the evening’s scoring in the 24th minute, giving MHS a 1-0 lead on a breakaway. The two sides endured a number of close calls around the other’s net, but the Bulldogs nursed their one-goal advantage into halftime.

Thang provided the equalizer in the 46th minute on an assist from Lee captain Luis Aranda. Twelve minutes later, Thang struck again on a hustle play. He darted to a bouncing loose ball inside the MHS goalie box and tapped it in to hand the Rebels a 2-1 advantage.

The two teams quickened the pace over the next 10 minutes and exchanged shots on goal before MHS’ Alan Rodriguez was fouled and earned a free kick in the 68th minute.

Rodriguez lined up and from 23 yards out, fired a rocket to the right of outstretched Lee goalkeeper Pablo Muniz, knotting the match at 2-2.

Lee head coach Scott Hicks said it was a well-played match overall by both teams and he was happy to pick up a point after falling behind by a goal at halftime.

“This was a great game and it’s always a great game in most years,” Hicks said. “They’re going to play hard and we’re going to play hard and it was back and forth all game. When it comes down to the PKs, it is what it is on that. Every point counts, but if you can come out of a game with a point, two points or three points virtually every time you play, you’re going to be in good shape. You’ve just got keep things in perspective.

“Our guys played well and their guys played well and that’s what you expect when we get together.”